Aromatic polyamides have been used for many years in various applications where their outstanding properties are valued. However, in the last decade, a growing trend to use plastics derived from renewable resources such as plants has been established by the society in order to reduce human's carbon footprint and shift our civilization to be more environmentally-friendly. This trend translated into a huge number of projects in both the academic and industrial scientific communities. However, finding polymers reaching interesting properties while being made via affordable bio-sourced monomers and processes is not an easy task. Both Assignees of the present application develop and supply products that meet the sustainable development challenges their customers are facing and have been working hand in hand to innovate in this demanding area.
SOLVAY SPECIALTY POLYMER USA, L.L.C. is a leading company in the manufacture of high performance polymers which notably produces a wide range of aromatic polyamides under the trade name AMODEL® polyamides.
AVANTIUM has developed a new technology which now makes available the conversion of plant-based sugars into furanic building blocks in a cost-competitive way. The main building block obtained, 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (hereafter referred to as FDCA), can be used as a monomer in polycondensation reactions:

Various proposals have been made to synthesize polyamides made from FDCA in the literature. However, the inventors have discovered that none of the experiments and the products described could be satisfactorily reproduced.
CN 102311546A discloses polyamide resins made from terephthalic acid, a furan dicarboxylic acid such as FDCA, a diamine comprising 1,10-decanediamine and optionally another aliphatic diamine comprising at least 8 carbon atoms. This document discloses several examples and comparative examples of polymers, among which comparative example 4 relating to a “1,10-decanediamine-free” polymer made from terephthalic acid, FDCA, 5-hydroxy isophthalic acid (with a respective 70/5/25 molar ratio) and hexamethylene diamine. Interestingly, the polymer obtained features a melting temperature (Tm) of 220° C. only, which appears to be very low for anyone skilled in the art of aromatic polyamides.
CN 102850541A discloses polyamide made from FDCA, terephthalic acid, 1,10-decanediamine and up to 30 mol % of another diamine comprising 4 or more carbon atoms. Interestingly, CN'541 states in [0014] that the presence of more than 30 mol % of those diamine different from 1,10-decanediamine is detrimental to the properties of the polyamide, in particular underlining the effect on the Tm and Tg of the polymers obtained (with a Tm of below 220° C.).
WO 2012/132792 relates to polyamides made from FDCA and an aliphatic mine comprising 2 or 3 carbon atoms, i.e. ethylenediamine or 1,3-propylenediamine. WO'792 discloses high molecular weight polymers made by a two-step process using interfacial polymerization and low molecular weight polymers made by a more conventional polycondensation reaction in the presence of water.
There is thus still a need for a process allowing the obtention of high molecular weight polymers made from bio-sourced monomers featuring interesting thermal and mechanical properties.